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    For you the war is over...


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    Guest Rick Research

    :Cat-Scratch: Very interesting indeed!

    I wonder from the "Station F" written on each card if they are for intelligence purposes and not personal souvenirs collected by a guard.

    N.O. 4 of Armeeoberkommando 4 would be Nachrichten Offizier, Abteilung 4 (whatever that was)... but probably intelligence rather than signals.

    These may be a "haul" of prisoners all gathered up at one time on a specific stretch of front.

    The closest thing I have seen to this was years and years ago, a large board with Tsarist Russian officer shoulder boards labelled in German as to ranks and regiments.

    It will be extremely interesting to see if our WW1-British experts can FIND these specific officers and provide some background. Best bet is probablythat somebody can say where and how the two flyers were captured. :beer:

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    I've paid a few bucks to have a few of these officers researched...

    Lt Lewis was flying a Nieuport Scout No. BL625 type 23 on Offensive Patrol when he went missing on July 12, 1917.

    I think that LT Strickland was a observer/gunner(?) on another plane when he went missing.

    I would realy like to find any of these officers relatives because I think that they would appreciate these items much more than me.

    Dat Nguyen

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    Guest Rick Research

    "Missing" as in NOT prisoners, dead?

    So these were removed from officers' bodies in an attempt to ascertain enemy Order Of Battle?

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    "Missing" as in NOT prisoners, dead?

    So these were removed from officers' bodies in an attempt to ascertain enemy Order Of Battle?

    No I don't think so because a few of these officers that I've researched survived the war and was repatriated back to the UK. I used the term "missing" because the RFC Report on Casualties to Personnel and Machines (When Flying) stated: Pilot left Aerodrome 7.15.pm. 12.7.17. Not since been heard of.

    This report was for LT Harold Morgan Lewis.

    Dat Nguyen

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    Guest Rick Research

    Aha! I just found in Moser's "Die W?rttemberger im Weltkrieg" ("Das Bayernbuch" primly avers, at least as far as being admitted In Print goes, that THEY had absolutely no Intelligence Section in their General Staff/War Ministry organizations at all, oh ha :rolleyes: ) that

    Abteilung 4 of their Section IIc (Abwehr- und Sicherungs-Abteilung) was for

    "Verbindungsoffiziere, Abwehr- und Nachrichtendienst bei Kriegsgefangenen, Fahnefl?chtige."

    So Oberleutnant Blotted-Out would have been the senior intelligence officer and these were sent back for OoB evaluation.

    VERY VERY INTERESTING INDEED.

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    • 10 years later...

    Greeting to ALL,

    Well 2017 is a great year for my badge projects:

    2LT Weatherill Abbott Strickland

    RE8 Gunner/Observer - 57 SQN "forced to land" with 2LT Griffith 12JUL17

     

    2LT Harold Morgan Lewis 

    Nieuport 23 Fighter Pilot - 29 SQN - shot down 12JUL17 by Oberleutnant Dostler

     

    Both were first interned at a POW camp in Ingelmunster, Belgium ... Station F

     

    First photo is Mrs. Skelding, grand daughter of 2LT Strickland, with her grandfather's badge.

    Second photo is Mrs. Wolstenholme, daughter of 2LT Lewis, with her father's badge.

     

    Took a while to locate the relatives through findmypast.com and ancestry.com ... I even ordered Lewis' will through gov.uk to locate Mrs. Wolstenholme. 

    Almost 100 years, but the badges made it back to the families.

     

    16730356_10211772030762034_5244957032735068515_n.jpg.6cb0352a371084e93c67cffe657e9232.jpg58f9f1d431d60_image1copy.thumb.jpg.4d213d6f199cdf351372b25a01276a4b.jpg

    Edited by cabart13
    Duplicate photo
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    With the exception of 2LT Houghton (gunner/observer) , all other Officers families have been identified. I am in the process of contacting Lt Davies (pilot) family ... the German mispelled his name as Davis ... 2Lt Burns (pilot) and 2Lt Houghton were crew members on the same plane. Burns, Houghton, and Davies were members of 20 SQN and shot down 29 APR 1917 ... 2LT Forrest was infantry and got captured on 28 APRIL 1917 leading a trench patrol.

    I planned to purchase similar badges as you suggested Jock to preserve the project.

    Dat

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    • 9 months later...

    Greetings to All ...

    Well this project has come to a delightful end. We managed to locate the Davies and Burns families ... Found out that Lt. Davies was a gunner/observer; not a pilot as previously reported ... Both Lt Burns and Lt Davies were in the same formation that got shot down on 29 APR 1917 ... even got provenance linking all the POW's badges that were mounted on the post cards ...

    Here is Martin Davies; Lt Davies oldest son ... and Jane Sewell's hand; Lt Burns grand daughter; she is camera shy

    Martin.jpg

    Jane.jpg

    Lt Burns managed to keep a secret journal while in captivity and retyped it when he got released. I always wondered how Lt. Forrest; infantry, got in the mix with three RFC aviators' badges on the post cards ... looks like they were in the same POW camps for the initial interrogation before being transferred off the front line.

    pg1.jpg

    pg2.jpg

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